THE MORIARTY tribunal cost €1.8 million in the first four months of this year, according to figures released yesterday.
Third-party legal costs are not included in this figure and are likely to be a multiple of the tribunal’s cost.
Lead counsel with the Moriarty tribunal, John Coughlan SC, has not submitted a fee note since the end of January.
Mr Coughlan is on sick leave from the tribunal. The chairman of the tribunal, Mr Justice Michael Moriarty, met the Taoiseach last week to discuss the resourcing of the tribunal. The meeting was at the chairman’s request.
The latest figures on the cost of the tribunal were released by a press spokesman for businessman Denis O’Brien following a Freedom of Information request to the Department of An Taoiseach by Mr O’Brien’s team.
The awarding of a mobile phone licence to Mr O’Brien’s Esat Digifone, at a time when Michael Lowry was minister for communications, has been the subject of a protracted inquiry by the tribunal.
The tribunal’s legal team cost €961,445 in the first four months of this year, including VAT. The team comprises three senior counsel, a solicitor, two junior counsel and a legal researcher. The additional administrative costs for the same period were €119,746.
The tribunal issued its confidential provisional findings in October 2008 and has, since then, been dealing with submissions from interested parties who are disputing some of the findings. The figures released yesterday show Mr Coughlan was paid €133,583 in January. His colleagues Jerry Healy SC and Jacqueline O’Brien received €72,358 and €87,188 respectively. In the first four months of the year they received €248,556 and €253,500 respectively.
Solicitor Stuart Brady received €92,903 in the first four months of the year. Junior counsel Marie Moriarty and Stephen McCullough earned, respectively, €88,655 and €110,869. Legal researcher Darach McNamara earned €33,376. The fees to senior counsel were reduced to €1,955 from €2,300 at the end of January. Since the tribunal was set up in 1997, its legal team, which has changed over the period, has earned more than €31 million.